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Speed matters (2021)

(www.scattered-thoughts.net)
65 points mefengl | 1 comments | 16 Feb 25 08:20 UTC | HN request time: 0.217s | source
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kubb ◴[20 Feb 25 10:03 UTC] No.43112968[source]▶
This is one of those instances where I’m simply baffled after reading the first few paragraphs and have to express that immediately.

The author did the same thing twice and he didn’t consider as the most important factor that the second time around he already knew how to do it?

He trimmed down the infinite space of possibilities to a single solution and learned the lessons? And had the neurons connected already in his head?

That’s what made him faster. There was a lot of work that he didn’t need to do anymore. Learning always takes time.

Maybe it’s an overreaction to a blog post, but still…

replies(2): >>43113635 #>>43114437 #
1. cxr ◴[20 Feb 25 13:34 UTC] No.43114437[source]▶
> he didn’t consider as the most important factor that the second time around he already knew how to do it

How'd you get that idea? Being faster because of something you "already know how to do" is like half the point of the post. The author even includes an anecdote that serves as an extreme example about how slow they were at working out code when they first started programming because they had to stop and think about loops.

It would be one thing if he'd written a post that includes the first few paragraphs here about writing <this> utility and then later writing <that> utility, then concluded, "… and that's why language X is better than language Y" or something. But he didn't. Which leaves me baffled by your comment.